Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch

by Carolyn Brown

  “Want to tell her this morning?” he asked.

  Addy shook her head. “No. Not until she gets over this phase. She’s always been such a good girl. So grounded and stable that I’ve patted myself on the back for raising her without a man in the picture. Guess I let my ego build up too soon.”

  “I imagine you did a fine job. Some kids just have to go through that painful rebellious age and hit bottom before they realize what they’ve always had right in front of them. But Addy, I’d like to be there when you tell her,” Jesse said.

  “Sure,” Addy said. “Looks like she and Tex have them herded up. That’s the last one going into the shed.”

  Addy still had high hopes that she could talk Mia out of selling off the flock, right up until they got the first three animals out of the shed and into the shearing area. “What kind of price are you getting for Nellie?” she asked.

  “That would be my business,” Mia said as she switched on the first set of shears and started to work.

  “How about Buster Boy, here?” Addy began the job on the prize ram that had cost Mia all her wages one summer.

  Mia gave her a drop-dead look and kept working. “You can’t guilt me into keeping them by reminding me that I named them. And for your information, Mama, Ricky and I are leaving this afternoon for a little vacation.”

  “You can’t leave today. Father’s Day is Sunday,” Addy said.

  Mia cut her eyes around at her mother. “I don’t have a father, remember?”

  “You have a poppa, who has given you a lot of leeway on his ranch and has paid for your college. You know how much Father’s Day means to him. Give this idea of a vacation a week at least. Stay until after Sunday,” Addy begged, hoping to have time to talk her out of leaving with the local bad boy.

  “I have some questions.” Jesse started on a second ewe. “Is Ricky selling off something of his to help pay for this trip, too? Where are y’all going, so we’ll kind of know where you are in case you need help? Are you taking your vehicle or his?” Jesse started on a second ewe.

  “We’re going on a road trip and we’re taking my truck, because it’s in better shape than his, and the rest is none of your business. I keep telling both of you that I’m an adult and that Ricky and I can make our own decisions,” she answered. “We’ve been dating for months.”

  Addy’s world was falling apart at the seams. Mia had always talked to her about everything. Why had she kept this a secret? The sudden changes in Mia made sense now.

  “Are you eloping?” Addy whispered the question and held her breath, hoping that Mia would talk to her.

  “Hell, no!” Mia shouted over the top of the noise of the shears. “We don’t need a piece of paper or a fancy ceremony to know that we’re in love. We’re just going on a trip to find a place where we would like to settle down and live together. I want to see more of the world than Texas. I deserve to do what I want. I’ve worked hard here.”

  “What do you intend to do when you run out of money?” Jesse asked.

  “We’ll both get jobs on a ranch,” she answered. “We’ve worked on them our whole life, and it shouldn’t be hard to find work. There are ranches everywhere.”

  Addy finished shearing Buster Boy and turned him out into the corral. She gathered up the wool and put it into the packer at the end of the room, wiped the tears from her eyes, and tried to flush the anger from her heart. Addy couldn’t bear seeing her daughter leave town with that boy; hence the tears. But the anger came from her sensible daughter not being able to see that she was giving up her own dreams for a guy who would break her heart.

  “Aren’t you going to help us finish the shearing?” Mia yelled.

  “No, I am not,” Addy said. “I will put the wool in the packer and sweep, but that’s as much as I’m doing to help with this foolhardy idea of yours. If you’re going to be an adult and take your life and money into your own hands, then have the guts to go tell Sonny you won’t be here for Father’s Day.”

  “I’ll tell them when I go back to the house to get my things. I’m not talking about this anymore. My mind is made up.” Mia stomped her foot on the wooden floor for emphasis.

  Addy hoped that when Mia saw the effect her leaving had on Pearl and Sonny, she would take a step back and think about things. Her sheep would be gone, but she could use the money to build another flock, or maybe even invest it in cattle. Addy’s thoughts chased around in her head so fast that she was a little dizzy when the shearing was finished. She gathered up the last of the wool from the floor and put it in the packer.

  “What do you want to do with this bundle of wool?” Addy asked.

  “Sell it and put the money in my checking account.” Mia brought out three bottles of cold water and tossed one each to Addy and Jesse. She twisted the top off hers, took a long drink, and then wiped the sweat from her face with the tail of her tank top, showing off a belly ring that Addy had no idea her daughter had gotten. When Mia sat down on the floor across the room from her mother, her shirt rolled up in the back and there was a tattoo of a rose across the small of her back.

  “When did you get a tat?” Addy whispered.

  “Ricky gave me this one for my birthday.” She shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about getting another one, maybe two hearts entwined with mine and his initials in them, right here.” She pulled down the neck of her shirt and pointed to her chest.

  Addy downed half the bottle of water to keep from saying anything.

  “Did you want a tat?” Jesse asked.

  Mia jacked up her chin in defiance. “Ricky wanted me to have one, and I thought it was sweet of him to pick out a rose. He says I’m his beautiful red rose, and this will always remind me of how much he loves me. If I get another one, it will show him that I will love him forever.”

  “So you’ve been dating him since February?” Jesse asked.

  Mia shook her head. “We’ve been seeing each other since right after Thanksgiving last year.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Addy asked.

  “I knew how you would react,” Mia told her.

  Jesse’s body glistened with sweat and his hair was soaked when he sat down on the floor of the shed not far from Addy. Just having him close gave her strength, but she still thought maybe this thing with Mia was just a dream—no, not a dream, a full-fledged nightmare.

  Jesse turned up his bottle, took a long drink, and said, “That’s pretty amazing shearing for a nineteen-year-old girl.”

  “Are you one of those men who think women can’t do something good?” Mia’s tone was cold enough to scare away the sweltering heat.

  “Not at all. I served with women, even knew a couple of snipers who were female,” he said. “If that’s all you got out of my statement, then you missed the point altogether.”

  Addy tried a different approach. “I can’t stop you from going, but I can freeze your bank accounts since I’m the primary on both of them.”

  “I don’t need any of that money. I’ll just cash the check I’m getting today. That should be enough to keep us in hotels and food until we find where we want to live. Ricky thinks we’ll start driving toward California and maybe find a place in Nevada. I want to check out the mountains in Colorado or maybe Wyoming before we make a decision,” Mia said.

  “Will you call your mother every day?” Jesse asked. “She’ll worry about you.”

  “Nope, but I will call her once a week on Sunday afternoon if we aren’t somewhere that has no service.” Mia pointed at him. “But this isn’t any of your concern. It’s between family, not outsiders.” She turned back to focus on her mother. “Ricky and I’ve been living together this last semester of school. He got kicked out of the dorm for smoking pot, but it was his roommate who had the stuff, not Ricky. We rented an apartment together. We passed most of our classes, so we have a full year of business courses under our belts, and I have ranching experience so finding jobs won’t be a problem.”

  “Sweet Jesus!” Addy muttered. “What do you m
ean, most of your classes? Last semester you had all A’s.”

  “Well, this semester I failed three classes.” Mia shrugged. “I’ll retake them later if I go back. Ricky and I haven’t decided what we’re going to do at the end of summer. If we don’t want to work on ranches, we may both join the Army, if they’ll promise to station us at the same places. I hear the truck coming to get the sheep. I can get them herded in without y’all’s help. I just have to go by the house and get my stuff, then pick up Ricky…” She smiled at her mother. “I’ll call you on Sunday.” She dashed out the back door without so much as giving Addy a hug.

  Jesse moved over to sit closer to Addy. “Are you going to survive all this?”

  Addy pulled her knees up, propped her elbows on them, and buried her face in her hands. “Wake me up, Jesse, and tell me this was all a nightmare. What did I do wrong? How could I have been so blind as to not know she had moved out of the dorm. Pearl and Sonny paid so much for her to live there.”

  He slung an arm around her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, but today is very real. Want me to call Grady? Does he know that I’m Mia’s father?”

  “Hell, no!” Tears flowed down her cheeks. “He wouldn’t understand any of this, and he’d have a million questions about why I didn’t see it happening. I failed by not giving her a father figure…and now she’s about to ruin her life. I can’t even imagine her…in the Army,” Addy said between sobs.

  “Right now, that might be the best place for her and Ricky both.” Jesse pulled her closer to his side. “There’s no way they’ll promise them the same duty stations, so she’d be separated from him and have some time to think for herself without him telling her what to do. From what y’all have told me about him, he probably wouldn’t last past basic training. But before that happens, it’s a sure shot that he’s about to spend every bit of that money she’s getting today. You would be wise to freeze her accounts, or he’ll use that up, too.”

  “I hate to do that.” Addy laid her head over on his shoulder. “What if she gets off somewhere and needs the money to get home?”

  “I have no rights here, but you would be protecting her interest. She knows that you love her and that she can call you,” Jesse answered.

  Mia blasted through the door like a whirlwind. “I forgot—” She stopped dead in her tracks. “So I was right. You have been flirting with Jesse, haven’t you?”

  “Jesse has always been my good friend,” Addy said. “You just broke my heart, and he’s here for me.”

  “Grady would be here for you if you’d call him, and he’s supposed to be your best friend,” Mia huffed, “but if you want to sleep around and get pregnant again in your old age, that’s your business. I forgot the papers that show what good stock my buyer is getting. See you later, Mama, but be careful about sleeping with dogs. You might get up with fleas.”

  Addy was a blur as she got on her feet and took several steps toward Mia. “You are certainly one to talk about sleeping with dogs. Go on and have your fun, and when the money is gone, call me. I’m your mother, and I’ll always be here for you, but don’t you dare ever talk to me like that again. I raised you better than that.”

  Mia glared at Addy. “Ricky loves me. You’re all wrong about him, and I’ll prove it.”

  “I hope you do.” Addy wiped tears from her wet cheeks. “But right now, all I see is a girl who is about to get her heart broken. And, honey, for your information, I was not sleeping around. Someday when you grow up a little, I’ll tell you all about your father.”

  “I’m not sure I even want to know.” Mia picked up her envelope of pedigree papers and left.

  Jesse stood and wrapped Addy in his arms. “Evidently, she has to learn the hard way, but I’m here for you anytime and anyplace. We can get through this together.”

  “Helluva homecoming for you, isn’t it?” she said as she laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. If only she could go back and get a do-over, Mia would be facing both her parents that day, and Jesse would be having one of those come-to-Jesus talks with Ricky.

  “The night is always the darkest just before the sun comes up” Jesse whispered.

  Chapter Nine

  The afternoon heat beat down relentlessly on Addy as she jogged from the truck to the house. She was glad Sonny was in the office and Pearl was in the kitchen. She couldn’t face either of them right then. She went straight for the bathroom, adjusted the water in the shower, and stripped out of her dirty, sweaty clothing. She pulled the shower curtain back and stepped over the side of the tub. Tears and water mingled together as she sat down on the far end of the tub and sobbed until her sides ached.

  How could she love her daughter so much and yet be so angry with her at the same time? Had her mother cried like this when she realized that Addy was six months pregnant and wouldn’t even tell them who the baby’s father was? Was this her payback for the choices she’d made?

  She had no answers, only a heavy feeling in her chest that nothing would ever be right again between her and her daughter. It took all her strength to stand up and finish her shower, and yet, she still had to face Pearl and Sonny. She turned the water off, wrapped a towel around her body, and padded barefoot to her bedroom. Dressed in underwear, a T-shirt, and a pair of denim shorts, she finally looked at herself in the full-length mirror.

  “I am strong,” she told the woman looking back at her, a woman who seemed to have aged twenty years in the past few hours. “Mia will get over this boy and come home, and things will be normal.”

  She had to believe that, or she couldn’t go out there and face the family. She rounded the corner of the hallway and ran smack into Jesse. He wrapped her up in his arms for the second time that day to keep her from knocking them both on the floor, and he held her there for several seconds. Water droplets from his quick shower still hung on his dark hair, and he had changed from his dirty shirt and jeans into clean ones.

  “Have you talked to them?” he whispered.

  She took a step back and shook her head. “No. I needed to get myself together first.”

  “Then we’ll do it together.” Jesse laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m here to support you, Addy, like I should have been all these years.”

  “Thank you. I guess we might as well get it over with.” She took a deep breath and started for the office.

  Sonny looked up from the desk. “Looks like you two got cleaned up after that job. Did she really sell the sheep, or was she just testing you?”

  “She really sold them. Did she come by here and talk to you?” Addy answered.

  “Nope. I heard someone come in the house and leave again, but she didn’t say a word to me and Pearl. What’s going on?”

  “Reckon you and Mom could come into the kitchen or the living room? We need to talk,” Jesse said.

  “Sure thing, and here’s something for you.” Sonny handed her an envelope. “Henry had to go into town for more barbed wire, so he brought us the mail on his way back down the lane. I reckon that’s Mia’s grades. I’m sure she’s got a solid four point, just like last semester.” He picked up his cane and started for the kitchen.

  Pearl finished sliding a cake into the oven as they trooped in together. “Y’all must be starving. I went ahead and made sandwiches.” She brought a plate out of the refrigerator and motioned for them to sit down at the table. “Mia didn’t really sell the sheep, did she? She’s just having growing pains this summer and spreading her wings.”

  Chips and pickles were already on the table when Pearl set the plate of sandwiches down. She poured four glasses of sweet tea, and Addy helped her carry them to the table.

  “We said grace at noon, so you just go ahead and dig in.” Pearl pulled out a chair and sank down into it. “So, about the sheep?”

  “She sold them,” Jesse said. “I’ll let Addy tell you the rest.”

  Addy opened the envelope, which was addressed to Addison Hall, and took out the single sheet of paper. She gasped when she looked at it, a
nd three sets of eyes stared at her.

  “Are you all right?” Pearl asked.

  Addy’s hands shook so badly that the paper slipped right out of her hands and fluttered to the floor. Jesse reached down, picked it up, and handed it back to her.

  “I’ve had my head stuck in the sand for six months.” Addy’s voice quivered.

  Jesse draped his arm over the back of her chair. “This is not your fault.”

  “I should have seen the signs. When she called home, she only talked a few minutes. When I talked about coming to see her for a girls’ shopping day, she put me off.” She took a deep breath and tried to hold back tears. “Look at this, Jesse. She has failed every single class, not just half of them. They’re putting her on probation next semester.” As mad as she was, Addy couldn’t sit still. She pushed back her chair and paced around the table. “I’m so sorry, Sonny. I can’t begin to apologize for her wasting your money like this.”

  “There’s a mistake,” Sonny declared. “I’ll call the school and get this straightened out. A kid doesn’t go from perfect grades one semester to failing the next.”

  “She’s let Ricky control her life the past six months,” Jesse said. He took Addy’s hand in his when she passed by his chair. “She’s said some pretty hateful things to her mother about—”

  “Jesse is Mia’s father,” Addy blurted out. “But she doesn’t know that. She caught him with his arm around me and accused me of fooling around and getting pregnant again.” She slumped down in her chair.

  Pearl shot a knowing look at Sonny and then reached across the table to pat Addy's hand. “We figured that out years ago, and we know that you and Jesse have always had a special connection.”

  Addy was shocked speechless. How did they know when her own parents had never figured it out?

  Jesse blinked several times and then said, “Why didn't you tell me if you knew all this time?”

  “That was Addy’s place, not ours, and we figured it would all come out when the time was right.” Sonny nodded. “That’s part of the reason we wanted you and Mia to move in here with us. We wanted to be a part of our granddaughter’s life.”